Merry Christmas!

 

2011 Christmas card  |  2010 Christmas card

 

my heart is smiling...

Wowee, are we ever busy?!  I don't know why -- I mean, it's not like we're a week away from Christmas and still trying to get last minute gifts (why are men so hard to buy for??).

 

No, that's not me.  At all.

 

No, there's something else...what was that?  Hmmm...

 

Oh.  Right.

 

We're just trying to get ready for a 9-day trip to IL!  Almost all of Jeff's family lives there and we're all going to be together this year at the request of his Grandma Wenzel.  It's gonna be lots of fun but man, the planning and packing!

 

We're flying up on Christmas Eve and back on New Year's day and y'all, I can't even describe to you how excited I am to get on a plane with my toddler!  Kidding.

 

Totally kidding about that.

 

It probably is going to go much smoother than how I'm picturing it going in my head, especially since we don't have super-long flights or layovers, but I'd rather be prepared for the worst.  Everyone believes my son is an angel, and I would say 85% of the time, he is.  He totally is.  But that other 15%...ooo, lawd.  Thank goodness he's cute.  Sometimes that's the only thing that saves my 2 year old toddler.  :)

 

Aaaaaanyways, I said all.of.that. to say that I wanted to share a sweet little instance that happened at the grocery store last week, in the midst of all the busy-ness.

 

Deacon and I went to the grocery store with a pretty lengthy list of things to get.  Deacon usually does pretty well at the store (especially  if he gets a cookie before or after the trip -- God bless Harris Teeter for those free cookies).

 

I believe I've mentioned that my son is a chatter box.  Yes, I'm sure that's come up here once or twice.

 

And he likes to sing.  Have I mentioned that?  I'm sure I have.  We sing a lot, so he sings a lot.  :)  The song of choice currently is Jingle Bells (pronounced Jinga-Bowel, true story.).

 

Those may seem like random facts to mention right here in the middle of my story, but trust me, friends.  They are not.  They are relative to what is turning into a really long-winded story, wow.

 

Focus, Linds.

 

Okay, right.  So we're in the store and I'm heading down each aisle, chucking stuff in the buggy and crossing things off my list.  And Deacon, well, from the time I sat him in the buggy, he has not.stopped.talking.  Or singing, as the case may be.

 

Seriously.

 

I found myself on about aisle 5 or 6 going, "Buuuuuddy!  Aren't you tired of hearing yourself??"

 

Nope.

 

And the chatter and concert continues.

 

Now don't misunderstand -- I love this about my boy.  I really do.  It's just that once we enter the public realm...I tend to be a little more conscious of just how MUCH he chatters on.  Wow.

 

(I promise there's a point.  And I'm getting to it.)

 

So I finally get all my stuff and make my way up to the checkout line.  I put my list in my purse and look up to find a woman looking our way from another checkout line.  She says, "He is precious!  Oh, my heart is just smiling right now..."

 

Yeah?

 

Well, mine has just swelled to overflowing with love and pride, as it so often does when someone mentions the preciousness and joy of my sweet boy...

[Thanksgiving 2012, 2 years old] 

special birthday presents...

I know I might be stretching this birthday thing out a little bit but I thought it would be fun to share these videos of Deacon playing with a couple of his bigger birthday presents.  The first is what he got from his Grandpa Duane & Grandma Sherry (Jeff's parents), and the second is what we gave him...

  

  

2nd birthday...

2nd birthday party...MUCH different than the first birthday party.

 

Instead of a small family gathering at our house, we partied it UP at a nearby park in Surf City with lots of friends and wind.

 

Yes, lots of wind.  Brrrr.  The party was from 10am-12pm on Nov 3.  Hello, fall!

 

Yeah, I took a risk.  You never know how it's going to be around here.  Had the party been a little later in the day, we would've been fine, but the cold didn't seem to bother the kiddos.  Just the adults.

 

Go figure.

 

 

 

Anyway, we still had lots of sunshine in attendance so that did wonders to ward off the chill.  The kiddos played on the playground for the beginning of the party and then when they started getting hungry, they wandered over to our shelter to grab some party snacks.  We had:

 

chocolate chip pumpkin bread

cheeseballs

goldfish

white cheddar popcorn

cupcakes

(cute little) mini water bottles

 

I did make most of the decorations again this year (it was a train theme), but couldn't do as much as last year since we had to set up outside.  Most of them were on the food table, but I did make a banner than no one could read cuz it was so flippin' windy. 

 

Nice. 

 

It said, "Choo-Choo, Deacon's 2!"  I hung it in our house for a couple weeks after his party, just to get some more mileage out of it.  :)

 

After everyone ate their fill, we spread out a big mat on the ground and let Deacon open his presents.  He did pretty good.  He never wanted to stop opening presents, though he did like to look at each present after it was out of the wrap.  You know, instead of just tearing into the next one. 

 

He gets that from his mama.  ;)

 

 

 

Once again, we had our awesome photographer Larry there to take photos for us.  Best idea I ever had.  He gets all the credit for these fantastic shots of such an important day in the life of our family...

 

 

 

Happy birthday, doodle bug!  We can't believe you're already a happy little toddler!  You bring such joy and laughter to our lives -- we're so blessed that God gave you to us.  We can't wait to see what the next year holds for you.  Love you with as much love as our hearts can hold!

halloween 2012...

We're not big celebraters of halloween, really.  I'm personally not into all that halloween represents; I'd much rather celebrate my husband's birthday, which happens to fall on the same day.  :)  That said, it is kinda fun to dress kids up while they're young, and to see what their reaction is when you tell them it's okay to go to your neighbors' houses and ask for candy.

 

I mean, really.

 

How awesome is this?!  :)

 

Deacon is very much into trains right now so we had already decided to do a train theme for his birthday party.  Considering that we already had some train paraphernalia, it was pretty easy to come up with his costume. 

 

And what an adorable little train conductor!

 

 

We had several trick-or-treaters come to our house, and then we took Deacon to a few of the houses in our neighborhood before it got dark.  He did great and the way he says "trick or treat!" is so cute!  It sounds more like "tricky treat". 

 

Yeah, sometimes.

 

Anyway, he was very polite, saying thank you when getting his piece of candy, and he even tried to trade out a few things, putting some of his candy into their basket.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

Once we were done with that, we headed into town to celebrate Jeff's birthday at his fave restaurant: Outback Steakhouse.  That's pretty much an annual meal.  We ALWAYS go there.  And that's okay, cuz we don't go there very often during the rest of the year.  Everyone thought Deacon was so cute (duh. :).

 

I would say we were much more successful this year than last with the whole halloween thing -- anyone remember how those photos turned out??  We had fun watching Deacon experience something new.  Even if we do have to explain to him (A LOT) that we can't have chocolate all the time.

 

 

carving our pumpkins...

 

Better late than never, right??

 

I mentioned in my last post that I'm very behind with some things I need to post here, but I'm slowly getting to them in this busy time of year.

 

We decided to carve some pumpkins this year, thinking this would be the first year Deacon would really be able to participate and get into it watch.  I've never actually carved a pumpkin so it was my first time to do that, too.  I picked up a couple of good sized pumpkins and then found some patterns to use.

 

That's how I roll.  This chic doesn't do "free-hand" anything, really.

 

Deacon did okay.  He watched Daddy take the top off of his pumpkin and then we let him stick his hand in to try to help get the guts out.

 

 

NOT interested in that AT.ALL.

 

:: scrunchy nose face ::

 

"Yahky."

 

But he did watch the rest of the process for the most part.  I think he just liked sitting on the table.

Considering this was my first crack at it, I'm pretty pleased with my jolly-faced pumpkin.  :)  Stay tuned for some precious trick-or-treating fun!

another visit from Grandma Sherry...

Okay, so I'm late with this post (and about 2 or 3 others) but we've been a bit busy around here, celebrating a certain little someone's 2nd birthday (and a certain larger someone's 37th birthday :).  Fall has always been my favorite season because of the sights and scents, and just the feel of everything winding down at the end of another year, but back in 1994 I added another reason to enjoy fall when I found out my (soon-to-be) husband's birthday was on Halloween.  And then again in 2010, I added yet another reason to enjoy fall -- my first child's birthday!

 

But I'll get to all that.

 

Today I want to post about Deacon's time with his Grandma Sherry about a month ago.  Sherry began asking me early on if I was going to my annual scrapbook retreat in October this year, and if so, she wanted to come down to visit Deacon like she had done last year.  I told her I was (most definitely) planning on it and when I found out the dates, we made plans for her to come.

 

She arrived the Wednesday before I left on Friday for the retreat in OIB and then headed back to IL the following Wednesday.  They, of course, had a great time together.  And it was nice for us to have her here, too.  She lives so far; I know she cherishes these times with Deacon.

 

One thing they both enjoyed a lot while she was here was walks around the neighborhood.  Our neighbors loaned us a little tricycle that also has a handle that enables an adult to push it around, which is great since our little guy can't reach pedals yet.  :)

 

Jeff got some pretty good shots of one of their outings...

 

Deacon became interested in these water grates that sometimes had "stinky water" -- it's so CUTE how he says "tinky wateh".

two.

My precious Deacon,

 

Wow, another whole year has flown by already.  That means you are two years old today!

 

I can hardly believe you are a happy little toddler, running around and bringing joy everywhere you go.  You still have a ready smile for anyone you see, but with that smile, you now offer a wave and a loud "hi!".  And no one can resist your sweet little voice.  :)

 

Speaking of that voice, you use it a lot.  You are constantly chattering about something, and we can usually understand most of it.  :)  You can sing a lot of the songs that mommy and daddy have taught you, including "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Jesus Loves Me" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider".  It is so precious to me to hear you sing.

 

I love to hear you talk, too, though.  And most of the time you're polite, saying "please", "thank you", "q me" (excuse me) and even "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.  You can tell me almost all your body parts and where they are.  You can tell me almost all the animals that Old MacDonald has on his farm, and what sound they make.  You can tell me what your first and last name is, who your favorite baseball team is (go Yankees!) and you can count to 15!  I am so amazed at how smart you are, buddy.  You make this mama's heart swell with such pride I can barely contain it.

 

One of my most favorite things about you is the fact that you are still my lover boy.  You still love to cuddle, and you love to give hugs and kisses.  When you run up to me with your arms open wide saying, "hug...hug", there is nothing that will stop me from scooping you up and basking in that moment with my sweet boy.

 

Your kisses are the best, too, though you don't save those just for mommy anymore.  You like to kiss all the girls or pretty much anyone that's the same size as you.  :)  I love that you are so kind and loving, doodle.  It's an answer to one of many prayers I pray for you.

 

It has been incredible to watch you change from a tiny, helpless little baby to this fun little guy who can already do so many things on your own.  That has sent me on a roller coaster of emotion, I'll tell ya, kid.  I've never felt such pride and sadness at exactly the same time -- pride at seeing you learn new things and excel at them, but sadness that you are just growing up so very fast, right before my eyes.

 

I still feel so blessed by God to call you my son, and I'm amazed at all the things you're learning and what God is teaching me in the process.  I am so proud of you, buddy, and I love you more than I can even explain in words.  You are my heart.

 

Happy 2nd birthday, sweet boy.

Love,
Mama

 

 

Children's Museum...

I took Deacon to the Children's Museum of Wilmington last weekend and we had a blast! Jeff was out of town at a conference, and I had a coupon to get us both in for free so off we went Saturday morning.

 

It's a kid's paradise, I tell ya.  There are so many things to do for kids of all ages, it's pretty hard for them to get bored.  But it isn't hard for them to get WORN OUT.  We were there for a couple of hours and that's what it took to get through the whole thing and have time to play.  But that's about all Deacon was good for, so it worked out great.  It was really a nice outing for us.  :)

We started off in an area designed just for toddlers 4 and under.  This room had an enormous tree in the middle of it that you could climb under/through or crawl up on (via stairs).  There was a slide to slide down on one side of the tree.  Deacon found this car and promptly claimed it for his own.  Thankfully, there weren't any other kids in there when we started so he got to play with it for awhile.  He enjoyed sitting in it but also pushing it around.  We did eventually give other kids a turn. :)

 

 

 

We headed outside afterward before it got really sweltering.  There was a gutted schoolbus that Deacon just thought was the coolest.  The kids can climb up in the driver's seat and push all the buttons.  They can turn the A/C controls.  I thought it was pretty cool, too.  :)

 

 

They had this whole courtyard full of stuff for kids to do -- the school bus, a little mini house to walk through, this bridge to cross and the little tunnel to climb up in.  They also had a wagon with water and water toys to play with (Deacon's was more interested in the puddles on the ground around the wagon...lovely.), and a big rope spider web that older kids can climb up.

 

 

But oh, the trains!  The trains were the big hit with Deacon.  Which further confirmed that I'm doing the right thing for his birthday party this year. ;)  I liked to NEVER got him away from these train tables!  He had the best time just walking around and playing with all the trains.  He recognized a lot of the engines because he watches Thomas the Train almost every day.  He was so cute to just sit and watch.  The train tables were a big hit with other kids, too, and Deacon played pretty well with all of them.  :: heart swelling with pride ::

 

 

I did eventually get him away from the trains, though.  :)  We found a little camping site -- I thought it was so cute.  I immediately thought of my brother and his family + my mom & dad who happened to really BE camping while we were at the museum.  Deacon liked getting into the tent with the sleeping bags, but he got a little spooked by those fish sitting there.  He made a break for it after he spotted those.

 

 

 

We found a little restaurant, complete with tables to sit at and order food, plus the means to prepare the food for the customers.  Griddles and burners, lots of fake (but so real-looking) food.  A lot of the older kids enjoyed that.  But Deacon did grill me up a pork chop.  Mmm, tasty.  :)

 

 

We went outside one more time before leaving.  This will definitely be a place that we come to from time to time.  So thankful to have a place that encourages our little ones to imagine and dream!

 

For more photos from our 1st trip to the museum, click here.